Hello all, first time posting here. If you don't mind I'll skip the boondoogle and talk about the strip.

The Duke seems to have needed a good fast infusion of cash. There are a couple of reasons for that.

Ransom: Perhaps he had a less then wise family member who got himself caught by less then moral folk. These boys are now demanding the Duke cough up the cash or get his relative back, piece by piece. Starting with the ears. England had to do this for Richard the Lionhearted.

Dowery: Does he have a daugther or sister he's marrying off? That could get expensive and it could be rather urgent. "Behold my dearest flower will marry the most dangerous sword in the land... Better not to insult him with a small dowery." Women are murdered over this in some of the worse places in India (bloody Hindu Nationalist!) Prehaps the son in law or brother in law isn't very popular so the Duke is keeping this quiet until it's a done deal... No need to panic the serfs right?

War: Armies cost. Course you think with the nature of fuedal warfare the Duke would have grabbed of a few of the men or their sons... Or the peasents would have some idea that someone wants to kill them.

Bribe: In order to keep bad things from happening to the duchy a bribe had to be paid. This could be to an enemy army, higher lord/King or to a monster. If a Dragon tells you it wants all your cattle, you're just thankful it didn't demand all your daugthers. Ever seen the movie Dragonslayer?

Madcow! Some kinda of plauge is sweeping the nation's livestocks and it's vital they're isolated. Yeah a longshot but once in a millienia even nobles can realize what their Christian duty is.

Not quite that bad. Socialism works inside a family, and can work up to the size of a tribe. The breakdown point is the drone problem. When the group gets big enough so that the ones who don't actually -produce- anything can't be discplined by ostracism, you have to have enforcers - and the enforcers are always drones themselves.

Socialism just isn't feasible in bigger groups than a clan, and it doesn't work well -there- unless the group is all blood-related.

Kerry Skydancer wrote:Not quite that bad. Socialism works inside a family, and can work up to the size of a tribe. The breakdown point is the drone problem. When the group gets big enough so that the ones who don't actually -produce- anything can't be discplined by ostracism, you have to have enforcers - and the enforcers are always drones themselves.

Socialism just isn't feasible in bigger groups than a clan, and it doesn't work well -there- unless the group is all blood-related.

Kerry Skydancer wrote:Not quite that bad. Socialism works inside a family, and can work up to the size of a tribe. The breakdown point is the drone problem. When the group gets big enough so that the ones who don't actually -produce- anything can't be discplined by ostracism, you have to have enforcers - and the enforcers are always drones themselves.

Socialism just isn't feasible in bigger groups than a clan, and it doesn't work well -there- unless the group is all blood-related.

Actually socialist/communist communes in small groups were tried in the late 1800s. They all failed and shut down. That's before Marx's innovations meant that when reality collided with socialism, it was reality that was discarded.

Oh, I'm not defending the idea, trust me. I said 'clan' deliberately... you almost -have- to be related by blood or marriage to be willing to pool resources the way communism claims you should. The communes of the 1800's either had no clue how much even a farming community of that era depended on shared technology, or they were collections of drones who were all hoping to live off of someone -else's- efforts. Frequently both.